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Though never totally impenetrable, this “bamboo curtain” led thousands of defectors facing starvation, oppression, and a lack of opportunity at home, to risk the journey across the less-hostile northern border and cross into China.

Loosely inspired by traditional Polynesian huts, the home featured a steep roof design, bamboo curtains and a triangle-shaped swimming pool with a gas jet that sent flames shooting into the air.

New also has a fondness for tropical and jungle themes, with tiki torches, bamboo curtains and animal print tapestries in the living room, and African masks and carvings hung on the dining room wall.

Such is the harsh reality of life behind the bamboo curtain.

A North Korean couple pulled the bamboo curtain across the front of their table when they heard foreigners arrive.